Good question. What can I say? I've been busy. First and foremost, there has been lots of drama at work. I can't really give you all the juicy detail but it involved a team member who narrowly escaped getting fired by quitting, said team member's tragically neglected territories that need to be brought back to some level of normal functioning (guess who's been given that task), and interviewing for a replacement (who, sadly, hasn't started yet), all within a framework of a company hit harder by the economic crisis than we'd like to admit and now officially undergoing restructuring. Ouch. Need I say that I'm spending untold evenings at work plodding away?
Then there was a lot of fun stuff, too, that kept me from blogging. First was Ritesh's 20th High School Reunion, which I was happy to attend since I missed my own back in Germany earlier this year. Here he is happily reunited with some old friends from way back when:
Then there was a weekend trip out to Redlands in the desert to visit my old friend Andrea, who recently moved back to California after years out east in Virginia. Went on a lovely little hike along the shore of picturesque Lake Arrowhead. I can't believe it's been almost two months since then. Where does time go?
Then my old college friend Roger came to visit - well, really, he came for the Visible Evidence conference at USC, where was presenting and on a panel, newly tenured film professor that he is (congrats, Rogie!) but he spent a few days with us before the conference which led to some very late nights catching up and a general sense of happy exhaustion, which made blogging feel somehow less than vitally important. Here we are at the rooftop bar at the Standard Hotel in downtown LA.
enjoying the view
my mojito
we also did some cooking at home: This is Rogie's classy signature daube d'aubergine in the front, a black pepper crusted steak after my Dad's recipe, and a roasted sweet corn and orzo salad - a real feast. Sorry the picture is lame.
and here is Ritesh's fantastic signature chutney sandwich, made in Rogie's honor
To be continued - am off for dinner...
the is my first ever homemade raw and dairy-free/vegan cheesecake, made from ground cashews, lemon juice, cococonut oil and agave nectar, with some raw cocoa nibs and a raw chocolate sauce mixed in the top layer. If you have Ani's book, this is the chocolate chip cheezecake swirl from p. 51
the chai-spiced blueberry cobbler from p. 93
this is the raspberry ganache fudge cake from p. 49 that I made for Ritesh's birthday, with walnuts, dates, organic cocoa, agave, and a frosting that consists of avocado, dates, cocoa and agave - super rich and decadent in its deliciousness and yet totally dairy and cholesterol free and actually all good for you
and this is the acai cheezecake from p. 54, again made from cashews, lemon juice, coconut agave, with a packet of frozen acai blended in. The crust is any form of nut mixed with dates - this one is salted pecans, almonds, walnuts and some shredded coconut. I cut these into bitesize pieces since they're pretty rich. Plus they keep best in the freezer, so it's easiest to take out just however many little pieces you can handle.
There are so many egg yolks in the custard that I made a meringue top out of the leftover egg whites. So no whipped cream here, but it was pretty tasty.
A few days later, I made a second one, this one vegan and soy based:
The custard is made from tofu and the bananas are actually mixed in, rather then layered under the custard. And the topping is a whipped soy product I found at Whole Foods that actually comes imported from Germany and tastes pretty darn good as well.
I haven't been able to extract from Ritesh which one of the two pies he liked better, so may have to make both again next year :)
Chai smoothie, made with some Indian masala-spiced tea, ginger yogurt, ground almonds, banana, mango, and some extra ginger for good measure.
mango-red currant smoothie
Rose-pistachio smoothie with banana and rice milk
And the crowning glory: a mango-cocoa-curry smoothie. If you've had curried chocolate, or dried curried mango dipped in chocolate, you know this is the best!
Ritesh doing an Inspector Clouseau with my purse while waiting for the arrival of the groom.
video of the groom's arrival - in an old cadillac, accompanied by his grandmother (she in the blue sari), a little cousin and a bunch of family and friends - and totally stalling since Minal was still getting her make up done... nice energy though, and all this before 9am!
Alison at the luncheon after the ceremony
two happy couples
and a close up of bride and groom
table at dinner
the wedding photographer, the amazing Nataline Viray-Fong, in action
and some strawberry wedding cake. Perfect weekend.
some nosy deer, admired by Marzhan and Yuval and Caroline's daughter, whose name sadly eludes me right now (this is why it's not good to wait before blogging about whatever it is you're blogging about).
and more pretty little girls (Christine's twins) all excited about the deer
enjoying the view
my mojito
and here is Ritesh's fantastic signature chutney sandwich, made in Rogie's honor
